WCW Monday Nitro - September 6, 1999

Wade could not cover Nitro this week, so I am filling in this time around. In response, Bill will be doing this week's taped Thunder report, showing the Internet community that he can write as well as pay the bills.

Just one letter in the mailbag this week.

Mickey talks about why we won't see the real "Franchise" in WCW:

Fans in WCW will NEVER see the Shane Douglas in ECW because Shane can't cut the same interviews he did in ECW.

Think about it. All of Shane's "good" interviews in ECW involved him swearing 400 times over, or running down WCW or the WWF. Now that he's in WCW, he can't do any of that, so he's stuck using crappy catchphrases. So don't expect to see the fans care about Shane, because minus the ECW-ish
interviews, he's just another crappy wrestler with average mic skills.

Thanks go out to ECWBob, who notified me of an error I had in my report. The show Interior Motives, starring potential Lambda Brother Christopher Lowell, airs on the Discovery Channel. I had originally written it as the Home & Garden Network but the text was fixed shortly after the error was noted.

I wonder how long it's going to take for Schiavone to say that Sid Vicious is "undefeated." We'll just have to find out!

Stevie says Harlem Heat will be the nine-time (says this seven times) tag team champs.

Booker compares his team to nitrous oxide.

Booker plans to burn this mother up.

Well, tonight's fruit-booty count stands at two.

Lex Luger and Sting walk into a dressing room with Hogan and Bret Hart. Sting says he wants just five minutes with Hogan. Hogan accepts and as he walks away, the lights dim and some "beatdown" noises are made. Y'know, if I wanted to watch a Scooby Doo cliche, I'd tune to Cartoon Network.

We come back to seeing Sting laid out on the floor. Hogan and Luger nearly come to blows but security breaks them up.

The next match is a twelve man battle royale. The first four thrown over the top are eliminated. The next six will wrestle against each other tonight in singles matches and the final two men will fight each other for a world title shot for next week. Props to WCW for the graphic.

From earlier tonight: Buff Bagwell signs autographs for the crowd in the arena until Berlyn makes his way out. Buff mocks Berlyn, until he speaks something in German. Buff tries to attack Berlyn from behind, but security holds him back.

Fall Brawl: Buff Bagwell vs. Berlyn

They air another Berlyn promo.

Match #5: Steve Regal (w/ Dave Taylor) vs. Buff Bagwell

Finally. We might get some real wrestling tonight.

He'll be facing StallMaster 5000.

Buff gets a "U.S.A." chant going.

Lockup, Buff gets a side headlock.

They trade holds for a bit.

Regal gets in a back elbow and a shoulderblock.

Regal comes off the ropes, leapfrogs Bagwell and eats a back bodydrop.

Buff hits a clothesline, causing Regal to bail.

Back in, Regal whips Buff, who lands a shoulderblock.

Regal comes back with some European uppercuts.

They trade punches, until Regal gets in a kneelift.

Regal whips Buff cross-corner, but runs into a boot.

Buff lands a couple clotheslines and a dropkick.

Regal grabs ahold of Buff and brings him to the apron.

Taylor takes a swing with the Union Jack and hits Regal.

Buff goes up top and hits the Blockbuster for the win.

YOUR WINNER: Buff Bagwell via Blockbuster in 2:32.

Buff gets a mic and gets some cheap heat flowing.

Buff says he loves Miami because it's part of the United States of America.

Buff talks about Berlyn wanting to step on his toes.

Buff decides to go all-patriotic in this interview, saying Berlyn will be fighting the United States at Fall Brawl.

Well, at least it's not Jim Duggan saying this.

Just wondering, how many of you readers out there have a button on your remote control that says "TNN Thrill Zone?"

Curt Hennig comes out and whacks Douglas in the head as the referee is distracted.

We go to the split screen, with the Revolution watching on one screen and the match on another.

Harlem Heat come out and beat the hell out of Hennig.

Stevie Ray goes to the apron and "hits" Kendell with the blackjack, sending him into Douglas. If you watch the replay, you can see the blackjack not even connecting.

Douglas then hits the Pittsburgh Plunge for the win. Again, you can see on the replay that Douglas' shoulders were also down, meaning that would have been a double-pinfall. Lousy ending.

YOUR WINNER: Shane Douglas via Pittsburgh Plunge in 4:16.

Post-match, Hennig consoles Kendell inside the ring.

Stevie Ray mugs for the camera on the way out.

They hype the Hogan and Flair videos as well as the million dollar offer next week. I guess WCW is throwing out a challenge to the millions of people across America that have said "I wouldn't watch Nitro for a million dollars".

The Good: They seem to be moving ahead this "Luger Is Evil" angle, which is good. Of course, with six days left until the pay-per-view, you'd expect this. The six man lucha tag match was also quite cool.

The Bad: The battle royale booking idea was neat in theory, but not so hot in practice. Shane Douglas vs. Kendell Windham had a FUBAR'd ending that could have been avoided had "The Franchise" realized where the hell he was on the mat. Jerry Flynn vs. Barry Windham was as slow as an elderly driver on the left lane of Interstate 95. Also, having Sid Vicious interrupt Benoit and Malenko is grounds for a public flogging in my book.

The Ugly: I don't care why, but there is no reason as to booking Barry Horowitz vs. Al Greene for a major Monday night show. Prince Iaukea vs. Johnny Swinger also seems pointless, unless they actually go ahead with the Vampiro recruitment plan.